That seem to happen when you leave loaded guns where kids can get them:
DENVER — A 3-year-old girl was shot and critically wounded by a 5-year-old boy on Monday with a handgun belonging to her mother’s boyfriend. Pueblo police said that a 9-year-old was playing with a gun in the backyard of a home when he gave the firearm to the 5-year-old, who pointed it at the girl and fired, striking her once.
The girl was flown to a hospital, where she was in critical but stable condition after surgery. “When the 9-year-old was asked how he was able to manipulate the handgun, he said he learned it from video games like Black Ops,” police said in a statement. The boys who handled the gun will not face charges because of their age, police said, but they would investigate how the older boy got the weapon.
H/t David Benowitz.
Shouldn’t we take a closer look at the roll video games play in the violence and gun “accidents” in our society. Violent movies are not the same as violent ‘interactive’ video games. South Korea has more band width and internet connections (these folks are gamers) than any other nation on earth. They’ve done a ton of research on this subject because they are experiencing an ever increasing number of violent incidents. Violence that was unheard of even 25 years ago. They’ve found that much of that violence can be traced back to the use of video games.
Of course y’all know I am from the South and guns are just part of the culture and almost everyone, even people that want more gun control, own a gun. I used to own a gun when I lived way out in the “sticks.” I had it mostly for coyotes and feral dogs that ran in packs. I didn’t take that gun with me when I moved back into the center city part of Atlanta (though the rats are pretty freekin’ big.)
I think that there is such a cavalier attitude towards guns and gun safety than in times past. It could be because of violent media, but, I really thinks there is no gun group or association that is an advocate for gun safety and “real” gun education. As reactionary as the NRA is today, the NRA used to be a big gun safety education entity and that function has disappeared as its gun lobby, “no regulating a Constitutional right” focus has become its primary function. Gun safety was also a thing that was done within the family, too. Most everyone I know while growing up, there was a gun safe or a locked space where guns were stored. It was a serious radioactive zone that all kids knew that if one went even close to that case, one would spontaneously combust. Ignorance by grownups is killing kids…
And, yes, I think we need more gun control…. and open carry is a dream of stupid narcissists…
I wonder if that investigation will lead to the NRA. Because how do people get guns when they are dumb enough to give a gun to a 9-year-old/leave a gun where where a 9-year-old could get it? (Really, what’s the difference?) Through the work of the NRA. That’s how. And the investigation should lead to the doors of all the craven, ignorant politicians who put their electability ahead of the good of their constituents.